The Intricacies of Land Reform in Namibia: An Overview of the Land Question in Namibia 33 Years After Independence

Abstract

It is trite that at independence in 1990 Namibia inherited a skewed land distribution system in favour of a white minority, which necessitated the newly elected government to take drastic steps to redress the historical injustices pertaining to land ownership. The steps taken to address the land issue were birthed at the first National Conference on Land in 1991. This article investigates those measures and their effectiveness or lack thereof in satisfactorily solving the land question. One of those measures is the Willing-Seller Willing-Buyer Policy (WSWB) which, together with the legislative framework on land has failed dismally in ensuring the equitable distribution of land and realising the transformative aims of the Constitution. The article identifies various challenges Namibia faces in addressing the land issue, including the difficulty in implementing a mandatory policy of expropriation of private lands without compensation in a capitalist society. It further criticises the concept of national reconciliation adopted at the first National Land Conference in that it may have deprived the country of an opportunity to holistically address the skewed land distribution system once and for all. The article finds that the major constraints to meaningful land reform in Namibia are contained in the legislative framework and policies on land, which emanate from pre-independence provisions contained in the 1982 Constitutional Principles. The article also finds that due to those inherent constraints in the legislative framework, it is impossible to realise the transformative aims of the Constitution which include, equality in land distribution. There is therefore a need to rethink land reform in Namibia. In this regard, it is imperative to infuse the concept of restorative justice in the debate of land and to compel private landowners to participate in the process of land reform.